Cities are not allowed to charge for the staff time spent in locating a public record, or for making a record available for inspection. A city can however charge for the actual costs connected with copying public records, including the staff time spent making the copies. A city cannot charge more than fifteen cents a page for photocopying unless the city has calculated its actual costs per page and determined that they are greater than fifteen cents. Actual costs for postage and delivery can be included, as well as the cost of any envelopes. If a city has to pay an outside source for making duplicates of records such as photographs, blueprints, or tape recordings, the city can also pass those costs on to the requestor. RCW 42.56.070(7)&(8) and RCW 42.56.120.

Service

Fee

Review of requested records

No charge

Postage

Actual cost of postage

Copies/Scans of records

$0.15 per page for hard copy records or records that are scanned into electronic format

Color Copies

$0.15 per page

Actual charge

If materials need to be copied by an outside source due to volume, current work load of City staff, or any other reason, the requestor pays the actual amount invoiced to the City by the vendor

Mailing envelopes or packaging

Actual cost of supplies

Deposit

In the event a records request is estimated to exceed $25.00, the City, at its discretion, may require the requestor to deposit an amount not to exceed 10% of the estimated cost prior to the duplication of the record(s).